If I had to choose between different varieties of baked goodies, I would overlook cakes, cookies and pastries and choose a sweet yeast bread every time. There is something so comforting about a warm bulochka (bun) or a slice of poppy seed rulet. They are probably my preferred dessert because they are not too sweet.
Whenever I think of a yeast bread roulette, I am carried back to my childhood. These were my mom's specialty. Most of the time she would make roulettes with a poppy seed filling, (absolutely AMAZING), but she made this one quite often too. With my love for farmer's cheese, of course this is my favorite filling.
This time, I made the roulette using the dough recipe from Taste of Home. You will not be able to stop with just one slice - it just melts in your mouth and you'll find yourself reaching for more. I am not ashamed to admit, my husband and I ate 2 loaves by ourselves in just 2 days. And we were both at work most of the time too. Where did it all go? It's a mystery to me:).
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. 
Add the warm sour cream, melted butter, egg, sugar and salt. Mix to combine. 
Add the flour and mix with a wooden spoon or use a standing mixer with a dough hook attachment. Mix until a soft dough forms. Don't be alarmed when you see how soft it is; that's normal. 
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
I like to wrap the bowl in a heated blanket. You can also preheat the oven to 200 degrees, turn it OFF and then place the dough in the warm oven. Don't use the oven trick if you're using a plastic bowl, though.
While the dough is rising, combine the farmer's cheese (you can substitute with ricotta), egg, sugar, vanilla and raisins. Mix to combine. If want to make homemade Farmer's Cheese, I have a great recipe for it. 
Preheat the oven to 375. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Divide the dough in half. On a very liberally floured surface, gently roll each into a 12 x 8 inch rectangle. 
It may seem as though the dough is too sticky and doesn't have enough flour. Let me assure you, it doesn't. Be very gentle with it and don't mess with it too much.
Spread half of the filling over the rolled out dough, leaving about ½ an inch border around the edges. 
Roll it up, jelly roll style, starting with the wider side. Pinch the ends together and lay the loaves seam side down on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the other half of the dough. 
Make some slashes across the top of the roulettes with a sharp knife. 
Cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes. Make an egg wash by whisking together an egg and 1 Tablespoon of water or heavy cream. 
Brush each loaf with the egg wash. 
Bake in the preheated oven for 15-25 minutes.
Here's another filling idea. I still can't decide which one I like better, they're both SO good. This one is with cream cheese and raspberry jam. Absolutely delicious.
Raspberry Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ cup raspberry jam, warmed
Mix the cream cheese, egg, sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth. Spread the cream cheese on top of the rolled out dough. Heat the jam in the microwave until it's thin and runny. Spread the jam over the cream cheese and continue with the recipe.
This filling is really delicious too. I generally decide on a filling based on what is in my refrigerator:). The sweet cream cheese filling with a tart note of raspberries is one of my go to combinations anyway, and it's a real winner in this recipe.
Roulette With Farmer's Cheese and Raisins
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
- ⅓ cup warm water 110-115 degrees
- ½ cup sour cream warm (110-115 degrees)
- 4 Tablespoons butter melted
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ cups flour plus more for dusting the counter when rolling out the dough
Filling:
- 7 oz farmer's cheese or ricotta
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼-1/2 cup raisins
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
- Add the warm sour cream, melted butter, egg, sugar and salt. Mix to combine.
- Add the flour and mix by hand or use a standing mixer with a dough hook attachment. Mix until a soft dough forms. Don't be alarmed when you see how soft it is; that's normal.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
- While the dough is rising, combine the farmer's cheese (you can substitute with ricotta), egg, sugar, vanilla and raisins. Mix to combine.
- Preheat the oven to 375. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Divide the dough in half.
- On a very liberally floured surface, gently roll each into a 12 x 8 inch rectangle. It may seem as though the dough is too sticky and doesn't have enough flour. Let me assure you, it doesn't. Be very gentle with it and don't mess with it too much.
- Spread half of the filling over the rolled out dough, leaving about ½ an inch border around the edges.
- Roll it up, jelly roll style, starting with the wide side.
- Pinch the ends together and lay the roulette seam side down on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
- Make some slashes across the top of the loaves with a sharp knife.
- Cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes.
- Make an egg wash by whisking together an egg and 1 Tablespoon of water or heavy cream. Brush each roulette with the egg wash.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15-25 minutes.
Hi Olga. I made these recently and was excited to try them. When I did, I was very disappointed that the batter tasted "wet". I made roulette before using Natasha's Kitchen recipe and they were delicious so I was eager to give this recipe a shot. I don't know what happened but I don't think this recipe worked for me.
I'm sorry to hear that you didn't like the recipe, Oksana. My guess is that if the roulette tasted "wet" you didn't bake it long enough. Every oven is different and some require longer baking times than others. I've never had an issue with this in the past, and I've been making this particular recipe for years. I'm glad you enjoyed Natasha's recipe.
how much do you put raisins in the cheese mixture?
Hi Nataliya! I didn't write down the amount, because you can use as much or as little as you like. I would guess about 1/4 cup per roulette.
Hi, I wanted to thank you for all you do and especially for this recipe! This was my first time to make this kind of dessert, I was always to scared... I thought I'll try yours and then few others to see which one I like best; after making yours I will not try any others! The dough was so soft!!! And everything was really easy to follow...And of course tasted amazing! . Thank you so much!!!!! 😀
Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to write and let me know how it turned out:).
Making yeast breads is much easier than it seems. I'm glad you liked this roulette.
I just made these yesterday and one roulette is already gone! It's delicious and very VERY easy to make.
the only thing I did wrong is that I rolled out the dough way too thin therefore when I took nice and well risen roulettes out of the oven they fell. So next time I need to make them smaller.
happymedley.blogspot.com
Amazing!!! Very soft, I love bulochki like this.
Hi Olga! I made this a couple of days ago and it was absolutely delicious! I think my 4 yr old ate 3-4 slices! Thanks for the great recipe. One question - what is the best way to store this if not eaten on the same day it was baked? Thanks!
I store it covered at room temperature.
Olya you are by far my favorite food blogger so far. Everything I've made by you actually turned out and not only that but turned out to be the best thing I've made so far. This rulet turned out so amazingly soft, I'm in shock. I tried making ruleti before and they never came out this soft. I didn't add raisins to the rulet due to my family not being fond of them but it still turned out amazing! I want to thank you for taking your time and putting up recipes with so much detail to them that ordinary cooks like us can try without getting confused. You are simply amazing!
Wow, Tania! I'm so touched by your kind words. It's so awesome for me to hear that my recipes are enjoyed by others too.
Amen to this! I agree!
Could you be kind enough and tell me the measurements of your baking sheet? Thank you!
Hi Oksana,
The baking sheet I used was a half sheet size, 18x13 inches. However, the most important thing to focus on is rolling out the dough to the dimensions that I have specified in the recipe.
Made this rulet last night with farmers cheese and prunes (didn't have the raisins), the other one with farmers cheese and strawberries, and the other one with farmers cheese and pear jam.../ Still can't decide which on is my favorite..LOVE THEM ALL: Great dough recipe So soft. THANK YOU FOR SHARING! By looking at the gorgeous picture of the rulet I knew I had to double the recipe, It looked like two was just not enough for my family, and I was right..They kept going for the next peice and the next piece.. Thanks again 🙂
I was so pleased to hear that Putin was not going to enforce the new ( Americans adopting Russian orphans) Will that help any for you and your husband?
Please let me know as I have prayed for you both concerning this manner.
Bennette
bennettedlee@gamil.com
Hi Bennette,
Thank you so much for your prayers. It still isn't clear how the law will come into effect. We don't know anything specific at this point. I will definitely update everyone as soon as I know if we will be able to proceed or not.
Olechka, you are so totally right about how fast this was gone. I think this is my favorite yeast dough creation. That was yummy!!!
I want to try your recipe, thanks for sharing.
I made this today with strawberry jam filling. I was on a time crunch, decided last second to take some to my sons teacher, he goes to russian private school. So I did not have enough time for them to rise last 30 minutes. I place them in the oven with steam, they turned out so beautiful.
Yum, strawberry filling sounds delicious!
If you read the step by step directions you'll see that there is an egg, I guess Olga forgot to include the egg in the printable version
The Taste of Home recipe adds 1 egg to the dough ingredients. Your recipe does not include an egg. Does it make a difference in the result?
You're right, ladies! There is one egg in the dough. Thanks for noticing. I'll fix it.
Mmm, I love рулеты со стаканом холодного молока!!!